Back To Vientiane

I am currently back in Vientiane. I met back up with my travel friend, Jayne, in Vang Vieng and we decided to come down to Vientiane together. We trudged over to the local bus station and bought our tickets yesterday morning in Vang Vieng. Later, we came back to the station with our backpacks only to find out that the bus was full, even though they had sold us a ticket! A strange man came up to us and asked us if we wanted to take a pick up down to Vientiane. We were pretty desperate to leave so we accepted. I asked what the catch was, and he said nothing so we shrugged and hopped in the back of a rusty old pickup truck along with 19 Lao-locals and a Japanese couple. I was wearing a tank top because I thought I would be riding the 4 hour drive in a much-too-warm bus. But, plans never seem to be concrete around here. So I sat in the pick up truck bed shivering cold, wearing my tank top while all the locals were bundled up to the max! I thought I was on the verge of hypothermia when the trusty Japanese man pulled a bright pink and purple ski suit out of his pack and handed it to Jayne and I to share! I thanked him profusely and practiced my Japanese with him for a while while I snuggled up in a 80's style ski suit! It was great. Anyway, made it to Vientiane with only minor hypothermia. Next stop... plotting that as we speak.
Goodbye!!